Ireland in 50 Albums, No 16: Brang, by The Shanks (1999)
The Shanks: Niall Lynch, Mick Hayes, Eoin 'Stan' O'Sullivan
In 1995 while The Shanks were touring in Germany, guitarist and vocalist Eoin ‘Stan’ O’Sullivan spotted one of their posters outside a venue. “A promoter had taken it upon himself to put a slogan under our poster and he had written ‘FolkenPunkenPop’. It was perfect,” recalls O’Sullivan. “We were like a punk band who had folky songs with the odd catchy chorus.”
The perfect recorded distillation of ‘FolkenPunkenPop’ is the band’s second album Brang. It’s the album wherein all of the Cork band’s disparate influences – indie and punk rock, Irish folk and traditional, and experimental noise rock – gloriously fuse. The Shanks had promised so much for so long and on Brang it all came together magnificently. It was also the end of a ten-year journey for the band and they broke up months after its release.
